KATELYN KAHN USES TRAINING AS FUEL TO OVERCOME PRIOR TRAUMA
Katelyn’s story begins like many of ours.
She began her journey in high school and tried various forms of fitness.
“I then found my true passion when I started working with a trainer and focused on strength training,” she said. “A couple years passed and when I was going into my sophomore year of college, I discovered how important the nutrition side of fitness and training is. I lost some healthy weight and really fell even more in love with this lifestyle. That is when I created my Instagram platform, @balance_with_k.”
Kahn believes in living in balance across the board. Whether it’s faith, career, school, training, nutrition, relationships, etc. she wants others to find their balance, no matter what that looks like.
“As time went on though, I started taking the lifestyle to the extreme and stopped nourishing myself properly,” she added. “Along with excessive training, I obsessed over every calorie, eating as little as possible and the ‘cleanest’ as possible.”
Heading into her junior year of college, she dropped to an extremely low weight, was constantly cold, lost large amounts of hair, was always tired, and stressed about eating out and social settings around food.
“I lost the one thing I focused my ideals on which was balance,” she said. “After having multiple people come to me with concerns and recognizing a need for help, I reached out to my family and my support system. I started reaching weekly weight gain goals, feeling more comfortable around food, and rediscovering balance and trusting in my body and myself. I am proud to say that I embrace food now, enjoy an 80/20 mindset, train harder than ever and have maintained a healthy weight. I am stronger from this.”
She got through this dark time by praying and renewing trust in God, using the support of others, and rediscovering the "why" behind her philosophy and why she trains. She remembered that to train and operate to her highest potential, she needs to fuel herself. She gave herself some tough love and kicked herself back into gear.
“That’s when I found APEMAN,” she said. “I really connected to the theme of the brand and the concept of humbly overcoming challenges. I want to live a life that inspires others and I feel that this brand does the same.”
She began to approach each day as a gift and started looking for positives and the beautiful moments in simple things.
“Some days I felt sick, due to the rollercoaster I put my body through,” Katelyn added. “In these moments, I had to reflect on my why and remember that I needed to turn my habits around. I would constantly think of living in balance like I believe and how I wanted to reach that again.”
Training helps her in monumental ways. When she enters the gym, puts her headphones in and starts going, the world stops and it is her time.
“On some days, I fuel my reps with frustrations from the day, pain I am feeling, or stress I need to fight,” she added. “On other days, I fuel my reps with celebrations, appreciation for my strength, and peace that training brings. I have accomplished more than my wildest dreams would've predicted. I love seeing myself hit PRs and pull weight that seemed impossible to me years ago. Being strong, mentally, and physically, is what training fosters for me.”
Her favorite APEMAN taglines are Only Forward, Lift Angry, and APEMAN Mindset… but she loves them all.
“My advice to others is that when you feel like you are tapping out, stop and think,” she said. “Refocus on your purpose. Think about what motivated you in the first place. Look deeply inward at the dark emotions you are feeling. Then, go one by one and flip them into driving factors to turn yourself around. Your mind and body are an absolute powerhouse team. Treat them as so.”